SOME OF MY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HISTORY AND PRESENT STATUS of research on funding effects could be answered relatively easily by reading the many books available on these topics. Others proved difficult for an unexpected reason: few libraries retain hard copies of archived journals. Because electronic copies rarely include instructions to authors, hard copies are the only place to find this information, as well as other useful items such as lists of industry supporters. I am grateful to the Mann Library at Cornell University for retaining full sets of nutrition journals on its shelves and in circulation, and to Patrick Stover for arranging my ongoing affiliation with Cornell’s Division of Nutritional Sciences.
Unsavory Truth would have been impossible to write without this kind of generosity from colleagues and friends. I must first acknowledge my debt to Lisa Bero and her bias-in-research group—Nick Chartres, Alice Fabbri, Quinn Grundy, and Barbara Mintzes—with whom I worked at the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre in early 2016, and to Stephen Simpson, the Charles Perkins Centre’s director, who made it possible for me to conduct the initial research for this book under such welcoming circumstances. I am also indebted to Juan Rivera Dommarco, director of the National Institute of Public Health in Cuernavaca, and to Simón Barquera, director of its Center for Research in Nutrition and Health, for hosting my Fulbright Specialist Award fellowship from January to March 2017 while I was working on an early draft of this book.
I thank Yoni Freedhoff for spotting the tweet that launched Anahad O’Connor’s New York Times article, which in turn triggered my interest in writing this book. O’Connor graciously provided copies of the emails he had obtained through open-records requests, as did Gary Ruskin of US Right to Know. Laura Schmidt encouraged UCSF librarian Dee Dee Kramer to copy the DC Leaks emails just before the site mysteriously disappeared, and Mimi Klausner and Rachel Taketa continue to ensure that they remain available in UCSF’s food-industry documents collection.
For providing information, consultation, or documents (especially those unpublished or offered prior to publication), I thank Zara Abrams, Alberto Alemanno, Angela Amico, Lenore Arab, Andy Bellatti, Dennis Bier, Geoffrey Cannon, Arthur Caplan, John Courtney, Robert Cousins, Adam Drewnowski, Darren Early, D’Ann Finley, Stan Glantz, Fabio Gomes da Silva, Joan Gussow, Casey Hinds, Nancy Fink Huehnegarth, Michael Jacobson, Lisa Jahns, Susan Jebb, Martijn Katan, Cristin Kearns, Jim Krieger, Alexandra Lewin-Zwerdling, Bonnie Liebman, Barrie Margetts, Alfred Merrill, Linda Meyers, Mélissa Mialon, Greg Miller, Jim O’Hara, Jennifer Otten, Niyati Parekh, Juan-Pablo Peña-Rosas, Kyle Pfister, John Pierce, Kathleen Rasmussen, Susan Roberts, Marc Rodwin, Andrew Rosenberg, Gary Sacks, Sunita Sah, Ricardo Salvador, Lisa Sasson, Paulo Serôdio, Alan Shannon, Michael Siegel, James Smallbone, Robert Steinbrook, David Stuckler, Leonore Tiefer, Ann Veneman, Ralph Walton, Allison Worden, and Lisa Young. As for the many contributors who asked to remain anonymous (you know who you are), and those whom I may have inadvertently omitted, I cannot thank you enough.
I am especially grateful to Marcia Angell, Sheldon Krimsky, Naomi Oreskes, David Oshinsky, Michael Pollan, and Laura Shapiro for their wise counsel at critical moments; to my NYU colleague Domingo Piñero for his expertise and generosity in redrawing some of the figures used in this book; to Daniel Bowman Simon and Maggie Tauranac at NYU for their help with basic research points; to Ken Castronuovo, Charlotte Diamond, Muksha Jingree, Kelli Martino, Katie Robertson, Pamela Stewart, and Matt Vanzo for superb staff support; and especially to Steven Ho for his patience and skill with my almost daily needs for technical support.
At NYU’s Steinhardt School, I thank Ben Vien, Lendyll Capitulo, and the rest of the Technology Services team for keeping my computers functional. To my Nutrition and Food Studies Department colleagues, chair Krishnendu Ray, and to Steinhardt dean Dominic Brewer, I offer grateful thanks for creating the remarkably supportive environment in which I am privileged to continue to work—despite my ostensible retirement.
I greatly appreciate the work of the team at Basic Books: Lara Heimert, T. J. Kelleher, Carrie Napolitano, Kathy Delfosse (the reference formatting!), Stephanie Summerhays (the endless, but endlessly enjoyable, back and forth!), Melissa Veronesi, Kelsey Odorczyk, and Connie Capone. This book is the result of your dedication.
I am the fortunate beneficiary of the tenacity and skill of my sharp-eyed friends and daughter who read the page proofs: Amy Bentley, Esther Trakinski, and Rebecca Nestle. Finally, I am everlastingly grateful to my agent Max Sinsheimer, my friend and colleague Joanne Csete, and my partner Malden Nesheim for comments and consultation on an earlier and much longer draft of the manuscript, for reading page proofs, and for support, encouragement, and invaluable advice throughout.